Illuminated sign



June y9, 1931. I M P,l K|RK v 1,809,243

` ILLUMINATED SIGN l Filed May 25, 1927 i* UNITED gsrr.LITJELSl PATENT oFFlcEf Patented p .lune 9, i931 MORRIS I'. KIRK,i 10.11 yLos ANGELES. CALIFQRNIA ILLUMINATED SIGN Appueauonlilea may 25,- 1927. serial -N.119 3,ss1.

This inventionrelates to illuminated signs.

A common lformA of two-colorrvfsignfhas a plate-.glass -upon which letters, numerals, -or other configurations of Va certain color are placed., These conligurations are usually white.y and thearea surrounding the conligurations is ofga different color. Placed in bach of :fthevplate-glass .isa housingl in which a lampis situated. Light-raysfrom the lamp are passed through the yplate-glass andthe si'gnfisfthus illuminated. The congurations appearinone color and the surrounding area appears yin another color. This type-of` sign is not4 entirely satisfactory in viewof the fact that :the configurationsv are not distinct at anyzdistance. j f

. It is .an object ofthis invention to provide asignfin which the conligurationsare very distincteven at great distances.

Other objects and advantages offtheinvenf tion will appear in the following description.

inventionmay be best understood by referring to .the Vaccompanying drawingV Lfor a detailed description.

In the drawing: l l

yFig. :lis a face view of ia-sign.havingthe features vof this invention .incorporated Fig. 2 is across section taken on the line -2-.20fFg-l- Fig. k3v isiafragmentarysection of a lightpenvious member. j, -Inthe drawing the numeral 11 designates the housing of the invention. Mounted in the .housing is a socket12 which supports thejlightsource ofthe inventiomwhich light sourceisprovidedvin the form of a iilamentlamp A13. The housing 11j vvhas asomewhat segment-shaped chamber'14 having. areflectg ing face l5 which is adapted to reliect inci- 4dentlightfrays 16 forwardfrom the rontfof the housingll as indicated at'18.. The front ofrthehousing ,11 is provided withacoverpiece19 having an opening 20 directly .in Yfront .of .-therlalnp 13which opening 201s provided with a colored glass 21-which transmitslight .ofl a certain color. Theportion of discover-piece 19 which is in front'of the chamber 14 has anopening 22 which is closed Aby ya light-pervious member 25., 5o'

. `rReferring to the ydetails o-the construction Y of the housing ll, it -willfbe noted kthat it consistsof three-,parts in'addition to the glass or lens 21andthe glass sign plate 2,5. The rear housing member 11E1 is of cup shape and 55 has a peripheralflange 11b normal'to itsbase wallv 11C. ninstalling the sign yinitsplace of use, the base wall 11C-of the housing is engagedy and clamped. to themember or Structure supporting thel-sgnzby the lamp 60...

socket j12.v The ,main housingv member 111(l has a depending portion 11e forming the s'egmentfshaped chamber 14 and a rearwardly extending tubular. flange 1,1 contoured to have a telescopingengagement with the flange 1lb 55 'i of the supporting member 11a. ,The coverpiece19 has ya forward tubular portion-19fl which contains the glass or 1le'ns21l and aldependingfirame portion 19b which supports the-sign member 25 and thecovr-pece `19 70 alsohas aperipheral flange 19c which tele- 'scopes .over the lront edge of the mainhousinglnemberllhwhereby. the sign member 25 y is supportedand held inv contact with/the :front edge ofthe housing member 1151, This 175,;

construction provides a housing, in which the socket and .lamp lare positionedto coincide withthe tubula-r portion thereof, and having depending ysegmental `portion withV the glass 21-constitutingthe frontwall of lthe so tubular portion and vthe glass VSign 257001,?. Stihl-ting libel/front wall of the depending seg.. mental portion. Y

"In use,the. cup-shaped vhousing member llaaand the. socket 12 may be permanently'iir :a5 p.

stalled lin placefandthe main housing mem-u ber 119i, carrying the cover-piece 19, theglass 21, .and the'signq25`, thenV applied with its tubular portionllfl slidably telescoped upon j the, member 11?. V By this Varrangement .the 1.9.0

v light-transmitting member in the positionl satisfactory for reflecting light-rays.

yentire device is supported by its cup-shaped housing member 11 and may easily be removed therefrom for purposes of inspection,

of the lamp l13 that light-rays 27 pass through the light-pervious plate from the upper edge 28 thereof. 1 The light-pervious plate is provided with configurations 29 which inthe drawing are in the form of letters which spell the word exit. These configurations 29 are preferably intaglio. formed by etching vor by sand-blasting.

^ Sand-blasting is the preferable way, since it provides a very rough surface which is vey s shown in Fig. 2 the light-rays 27 passing downward through the light-pervious-plate 25 strike the roughened surfaces of the configurations 29 and are projected forward as shown at 3l. The configurations 29 show up very bright and are distinct even at a comparatively long distance.

It is desirable to have the area surrounding the configurationsV 29 of a different color so as to enhance the distlnctness of the configurations 29. This I accomplish by placing a colored light-transmitting member 33 in contact with the back surface of the lightpervious plate 25. The configurations 29 are the only parts of the light-pervious plate which are not covered by the colored lighttransmittingmember 33. This light-transmittingmember may be of any suitable color, red, for example. The reflectedlight rays 18 which are reflected bythe reflector l5 are red when they pass through the light-pervious plate 25, thus surrounding the white configurations 29 with a background. 'The means for transmitting-only red light-rays may be of various forms; for example, it would be possible, in place of having arsepara'te colored shown, to colorthe light-pervious plate 25 orto place a colored light-transmitting member above the'chamber 14 so that only red light-rays would bev transmitted to the reflector 15.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the important part of the invention is to provide a luminous sign which is distinct at a distance. This feature of theinvention is accomplished by utilizing light- .rays which pass directly through the edge of the. light-pervious plate 25 and are deflected The configurations' may be forward by intaglio congurations, and by having sign configurations thereon adapted to become luminous when rays from said source enter an edge of said sign plate, said depending portion receiving light rays from said light bulb and having a reflecting surface for projecting said light rays lthrough said-sign plate. Y

2. A sign comprising: a cup-shaped rear housing member having a ange; a main housing member having an upper portion and a -depending lower portion with its upper portion provided with a rearwardly projecting flange telescopically engaging the flange of said cup-shaped member; a lightpervious yplate in the front wall of said upper portion of the main casing member; a light source in the upper portion of said main housing member, said flanges, said light source, and said plate being axially aligned; and* a light-pervious sign plate positioned in the front wall of the depending portion of thehousing and having sign configurations thereon adapted to become luminous when rays from said source enter an edge of said sign plate, said depending portion receiving light rays from said light source and having a reecting surface for projecting said light raysthrough said sign plate.

3. A sign comprising: a cup-shaped rear housing member having a flange; an openfront main housing member having an upper portion and a depending segment-shaped lower portion and provided with a flange projecting rearwardly from said upper tubular portion and'telescopically engaging the flange of said cup-shaped member; a front cover-piece source positioned in said oupshaped member directly above said edge and axially. aligned with said lens to provide a pilot light, said depending portion of the housing receiving light rays from said light source and having a reflecting surface for projecting' said light rays through said sign plate.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 20th day of May, 1927. e

- MORRIS P. KIRK. 

